by Kimber White
A growl erupted from my throat. Shae moved her hand from my shoulder to my back. Her fingers left a trail of soothing heat that quieted the angry side of my dragon while stirring something else. Desire. Lust. Damn it all to hell. This wasn’t going to end well. Finn was standing way too close not to sense the turmoil inside me.
I looked down at Shae. Every time my eyes caught hers, it felt like seeing her for the first time. I took in some new detail of her features, memorizing it. Her freckles became more prominent when her emotions flared. She wore a red tank top and I could see the outline of her hard nipples. She had freckles across her collarbone too. I wanted to know how far down they went. She looked as if she’d been dusted with cinnamon and the urge to run my tongue over her skin made my step falter.
“Come on!” Finn barked. We were in the hallway, waiting for the elevator. Far below us, I felt the rumble of footsteps. Of course, Avelina would want to assemble everyone in the main conference room. I could barely stand the thought of all four of my brothers getting that close to Shae. This was ludicrous. I’d never felt so out of control.
“Xander?” Shae stood with her back straight, her arms folded as we rode the elevator down. I realized how scared, how uncertain she had to be. She didn’t show it though. Instead, she kept her chin up and her eyes straight forward, ready to face what came on the other side of those elevator doors. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
Finn caught my eye and shrugged. I knew what he was thinking and he was right. Better to give her at least some sort of heads up. But how the hell could I explain Avelina to anyone? Clearing my throat, I started with the most obvious.
“Avelina’s here,” I said. “She’s, uh...she’s our mother.”
“Your mother? Is she...er...like you?”
Finn started to laugh and I elbowed him hard in the ribs. He covered with a cough and had the decency to look sheepish.
“She’s a dragon, yes,” I answered. “The last of her kind. Don’t let her scare you, though. I mean, she’s tough and protective, but she’ll treat you fairly.”
“Just don’t get on her bad side,” Finn said, unhelpfully.
“She’s just old. She’s set in her ways,” I said.
“Old? Like...how old?” Shae asked.
It was a loaded question. For an instant, I debated hiding the truth. But, I’d asked Shae to trust me. She was here now, for better or worse. She’d seen enough. “Nine hundred or so,” I finally answered. Finn’s eyes widened, but he settled quickly. I knew he’d gone through the same thought process as I just had. No use lying about the basics now.
“Years?” Shae asked, gasping. “Your mother is nine hundred years old?”
“Give or take a few months,” Finn joked. “She doesn’t look a day over a hundred and seven though.”
Shae’s jaw dropped and her skin went white. The freckles on her forehead turned a dark brown. “H-how old are the two of you?”
I let out a hard breath. No use lying about the basics, indeed. Well, Shae had already witnessed the most shocking thing about me. She’d flown with my dragon.
“Three hundred,” I answered, winking at Finn. “Give or take a few months.”
Shae blinked wildly. She took a step sideways and put her hand against the wall of the elevator. Then, she nodded to herself and met my eyes.
“Three hundred,” she repeated. “Okay, then. Well, you don’t look a day over two hundred and six.”
The elevator went dead silent for a moment before we landed on the main floor. Shae looked up at me and smiled. I couldn’t help it, I threw my head back and laughed.
Finn slapped me on the back then leaned over to whisper in Shae’s ear before the doors opened. I held back the urge to tear him away from her. “Relax, Shae,” he said. “I think you’re going to do just fine.”
Then, the mirrored doors of the elevator slid open. Avelina was waiting on the other side, arms crossed, tapping her foot. Shae gasped when she saw her and my hand shot to the small of her back, steadying her. The gesture wasn’t lost on Avelina. Nothing ever was.
Avelina Brandhart, my mother. For three hundred years, I’d witnessed regular men, fierce shifters, and the world’s most powerful mages tremble at the shock of seeing her. But when Shae stepped out of that elevator, she just squared her shoulders and approached my mother with a firm handshake.
“Ms. Brandhart?” Shae said. There was no trace of hesitation in her voice. On the other hand, my mother’s jaw dropped as she took Shae’s hand. A tiny smile played at the corner of her mouth, even as her crystal blue eyes swirled with their ever-present flame.
She was stunning, my mother, with smooth, porcelain skin, high cheekbones, and aristocratic features. Her hair had been pearl white since as long as I could remember. She wore it long, to her waist and parted down the middle. In human years, she looked maybe fifty. Her tall, willowy frame belied the fearsome strength her dragon could unleash.
“Avelina,” I said, “This is Shae MacKenna.”
“Hello there, Shae,” my mother smiled, displaying her perfectly straight, white teeth. It was a genuine smile, though she held the twinkle of mischief in her eyes. I’d been worried about Shae’s reaction to my mother. It never occurred to me that the great Avelina Brandhart, Queen of Dragons, Last of Her Kind, wouldn’t know what the hell to make of Shae. Pride for her poured through me. My mother’s cool blue eyes flicked to me. Oh, she knew exactly what I was thinking. It was then, her expression darkened and her icy stare slid back into place.
“Alexander,” she said. “I hope you’ve shown Ms. MacKenna every hospitality. Wouldn’t want her to think you were raised poorly.”
“Oh, no,” Shae said. Her cheeks colored with a slight blush. She too had sensed the shift in my mother’s mood. “Your son...if it weren’t for Xander...he....” She stopped, cleared her throat, and threw her flaming red hair over her shoulder. “I owe your son a debt,” Shae continued. “He saved my life.”
Avelina dropped her chin. “Indeed. Well, my dear Shae, you must be starving. I see Marie has put out quite a spread. Lochlan, Finntan, why don’t you join your brothers and show Shae to the dining room? I need a few words with Alexander.”
My fire flared. It crackled at my fingertips and brightened my vision. My inner dragon screamed No! She’s mine! It came unbidden. I took a faltering step back and dropped my head. It was too late though. Avelina had seen and sensed it all.
“Indeed,” she whispered.
“Come on.” Finn stepped around me, trying to come to my rescue. I curled my fists to keep the sparks from shooting out. This was bad. Catastrophic. Any hope I’d had of downplaying how things were with me had vanished in a literal puff of smoke. I heard deep laughter from further down the hall. Gideon and Kian were already down there stuffing their faces. Loch had witnessed the whole exchange with Avelina, slack-jawed at the other end of the room. Finn guided Shae toward him. I stood stone still, struggling to control myself.
Shae shot me a questioning look over her shoulder. I gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”
She looked from me to Avelina, unsure, but relented when Finn gently pulled her away.
Avelina stared hard at me, crossing her arms. She waited for Shae to go out of earshot before clearing her throat to start in. I put my hands up in surrender. There was no use denying what was happening or arguing with her. So I settled on the truth and hoped the rest of yesterday’s drama would be enough to draw her focus.
“Gideon filled you in on the highlights, I take it?” I said. Avelina brushed past me, heading for the smaller conference room on the lakeview side of the building. Taking a breath for courage, I followed.
“I want to hear it from you,” she said, whirling to face me so her hair swished around her then settled on her shoulders.
“Pack of wolf shifters beat me to the bookstore,” I said. “Marvin...the owner...he was mortally wounded before I even laid eyes on him. Shae is...was...his foster
daughter.”
“She’s human,” Avelina said. Her voice dropped on the word human. She didn’t mean it in a derogatory way, but in almost defeat. I knew we were really having two conversations at once. The undercurrent of the second set my heart ablaze.
“She’s been with Marvin since she was thirteen. It doesn’t sound like he kept anything from her. She’s been around shifters plenty. She knows that pack wasn’t...normal. There’s a Tyrannous Alpha behind them. There’s no other explanation. Probably just hired guns.”
Avelina furrowed her brow. She stood with the window at her back, the blue expanse of Lake Michigan matching her eyes. She wore what she always did. Black from head to toe. Today it was tailored black pants, tight at the ankles. She had on shiny black heels that put her almost eye to eye with me. Her flowing silk black top was open at the collar, showing her thin-boned chest, and sharp clavicles.
She’d been in mourning for my father for centuries. A man I’d never met. Everything I knew about him came from Avelina’s mouth. There was no one else alive who remembered Magnus Brandhart, Scottish Chieftain, ruler of his House. I was born forty-three seconds before Gideon. Less than one minute would have made me the new ruler of the House of Brandhart. But there were no other dragons now. Just us. There was nothing left to rule.
She turned on her heel and started to pace. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that...that...gypsy! The bitch probably sold that rumor to the shifters ten seconds after she told it to me.”
We’d had this conversation at least a hundred times before. Every time we failed to find dragonstone, each disappointment made the fire dim in my mother’s eyes. Time was running out. She would never say it, but we all knew. We felt it in our bones. We felt it as it got harder and harder to control our shifts. Someday soon, our dragons would take over and we’d lose our humanity forever. Then, Avelina Brandhart well and truly would be the last of her kind.
“Avelina,” I said, trying to keep my voice even and soft. Otherwise, the desperation I felt would feed hers. “I don’t know. This time seemed different. Those wolves weren’t after anything but a kill. After they murdered the old man, they went after Shae. I know the risk I took. But, I had no choice. They would have killed her.”
She stopped pacing and met my eyes. A hint of tears misted hers. She came to me; reaching up, she put a light hand on my cheek. It was an affectionate gesture, one mothers make to sons all the time. But, Avelina was after something else as well. Her eyes changed, coloring like opals and she set her jaw hard before finally dropping her hand.
“Xander…”
I tore away from her. “No! Don’t start with me. I was careful. I cloaked before I shifted. The wolves don’t have any idea I was there let alone what I am. We’re safe.”
“Are we? Are you? What do you know about this girl, huh? Because she sure as hell knows too much about you.”
I pounded my fist into the glass-topped table. Any harder and I would have shattered the thing. “You’re the one who’s big on fate, Avelina. I mean, what were the odds that I showed up to that shop at the exact moment a pack of rabid assassin wolf shifters was getting ready to rip Shae in half? Huh?”
“You did a good thing,” Avelina said, softening her tone. “Probably. But this mage, Marvin. I warned you before you went there. My sources were pretty clear that he’d been known to associate with some dark types. If he’d gotten his hands on a hunk of dragonstone, he’d have to. Are you really certain you can trust this Shae?”
“Yes,” I said, my shout echoing off the walls. Fire swirled in my belly. I had my fists curled and talons cut into my palms. Avelina saw it all. I’d gone past the point of control. I couldn’t have hidden my rage if I tried. I’d let my imagination conjure the scene if I hadn’t gotten to the shop when I did. I saw Shae laying broken beside Professor Marvin, her throat slashed through and through. I couldn’t breathe. Smoke clouded my vision. Time stopped. I don’t know for how long. One minute I stood at the end of the table, the next I was doubled over, panting, with Avelina’s hand rubbing my back.
“Oh, Alexander,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “My son. My poor son. It can’t be her. It can’t be this.”
I got a hold of myself and rose to my full height. I stepped out of Avelina’s grasp. “What would you have me do? Leave her to the wolves? They’re probably still out there. I saw what they wanted. I mean to find out why. And I will not let them get anywhere near her. I’ll protect Shae with my life. I swore as much to her.”
Avelina blanched. I hadn’t meant to tell her that. But, I supposed it didn’t matter. She knew me better than anyone else on the planet.
“You’re getting worse,” she said, keeping the emotion out of her voice. “You’re not thinking clearly.”
“I’m fine!” My voice thundered across the room, blowing Avelina’s hair back. To her credit, she kept her cool.
“You’re not fine! You’re a mess. You’re tied up in knots and you can barely keep from shifting right in front of me. I’ve never seen you like this. I should have been watching you more closely.”
“For what? There’s nothing you can do. I’m three hundred years old. I know how this goes. You’ve certainly drilled it into my head enough. If I don’t…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. My body wracked with spasms. I gripped the back of one of the chairs to steady myself.
“If you don’t mate soon, you’ll be trapped in your dragon forever,” Avelina said. This time, she couldn’t hold back the single tear that fell down her cheek. “You and your brothers. I’ll lose you all. It’s going to be okay. I won’t let it happen.”
“Not even you can stop it!” I hated that I was yelling at her. It seemed I couldn’t control that either.
“I will find that dragonstone. I will find the dragon it belongs to. There’s hope. There has to be hope. Your mate is out there. She has to be.”
“Face it,” I said. “You’re chasing ghosts. You’ve been sending us to chase them for you. There is no dragonstone because there are no other dragons. You’ve known it almost all your life. None of your sons will mate with a dragoness. It’s over, Avelina!”
“It is not over until I say it is!” She crossed the room in one powerful stride. Fire shot from her fingertips. Her hair lifted, swirling as if a storm raged right there in the conference room. “We will find you a mate!”
I went still and quiet. Then, I slowly met her eyes. “And what if I already have?”
It was the first time I’d allowed myself to give voice to it. The moment I did, my dragon railed inside me. Yes! Yes! It’s her! She’s yours!
Avelina’s shoulders dropped. She slowly closed her eyes and let out a breath. When she opened them again, the icy storm behind them had faded to the palest blue.
“It’s impossible,” she said. “Never mind not being a dragon, she’s human, Alexander. I mean, if she were at least a shifter...any kind of shifter, there might be a chance.”
“And what if it’s not up to either of us?” I said. “That’s what fate is, isn’t it?”
She reached for me again, putting her hand on my shoulders. I resisted the urge to pull away. No. I didn’t want to hear it. She knew that. She also knew it was why she had to say it anyway.
“If it is, then it would be her fate to die. No human woman has ever survived mating with a dragon. You might as well have just left her to the wolves.”
Chapter Six
Shae
I didn’t have to hear what they were saying to know Xander’s talk with his mother wasn’t going well. They were a floor below us and I could feel the building shake. Kian and Loch exchanged a look and excused themselves, leaving me alone with Gideon and Finn.
Xander and his brothers shared plenty of physical similarities. They each stood well over six feet tall with broad, well-muscled bodies. Anyone of them could have had a career as an underwear model if the whole billionaire philanthropist gig didn’t pan out. But, even in the short time I’d been around them, I start
ed to pick out the subtle differences between them. It was a skill I’d learned and honed under Marvin’s tutelage. At his heart, the professor had been a salesman, always evaluating his customer’s wants and needs and coming up with creative ways to convince him he had just the thing.
Gideon looked the most like Xander, with a straight, sharp nose and hazel eyes that were more green than brown. They each had a serious intensity to their resting expressions, though Gideon’s seemed more contemplative, Xander, more passionate. Just the simple thought of it turned my insides out. Something was happening to me where Xander was concerned. He’d done more than haunt my dreams last night. Every time he touched me, my heart jumped with pleasure. In his absence, I ached a little.
Finn looked the least like his brothers, with pale blue eyes and blond hair that looked white in bright light. In that, he resembled his mother the most. I wondered if that meant Xander, Gideon, Loch, and Kian favored their father. They’d made no mention of him.
A booming crash jarred me from my thoughts. Gideon coughed into his fist and Finn rose from his seat. He’d just polished off a stack of pancakes and gently wiped the syrup from the corner of his mouth. I’d settled for a fruit cup and a muffin. I was too keyed up to eat more.
“Come on,” Gideon said. “I have a feeling Xander’s going to be a while. I bet you could use some air.”
Smiling, I pushed myself away from the table. I had the feeling Xander’s brothers were just trying to keep me from hearing what their mother had to say. She’d been cordial and polite, but there was no question my presence had unsettled her. I followed Gideon and Finn back to the elevators. Finn hit the button labeled “observation deck.” We were headed back to the roof. My heart flipped as the elevator zoomed up fifteen floors.
Sunlight blasted my face as the doors opened. Still, Gideon had been absolutely right. The fresh air made me feel immediately freer. Plus, I could appreciate this was probably one of the best views of the Chicago skyline anyone had ever seen.
